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The Show
Sing Out!
Wow. That was the word that came to mind when the song “Crack in the Windshield” faded out at the end of my first time through Peter Siegel’s The Show. As someone who listens to hundreds and hundreds of recordings a year, I welcome an artist who takes a few chances. Peter does that. The Show is a concept album that works on several levels. Peter spends much of his time playing with dance bands and performing concerts in his home state of New York and throughout New England. You may have even seen him knocking around with Clearwater’s Hudson River Sloop Singers.
He calls his style of music and performing “Space-Age vaudeville” – an adequate description of what you find on this impeccably produced and artfully designed package. Peter sings and plays a variety of string and percussion instruments including guitar, mandolin, clawhammer and tenor banjo, bodhran, and foot percussion. He is joined by an accomplished assembly of musicians adding everything from fiddle and bass, to Moog synthesizer and heavy metal guitar. But then what would a vaudeville show be without a wide variety of sounds and styles?
The opening track is a 1920s style rag that sets the stage for a musical romp that bounces around between the political, the personal, the humorous, and the frivolous. Peter raps and rants his way through 14 mostly original songs that don’t even come close to be pigeonholed to a particular style. His traditional roots show throughout, as does his youthful energy and attention to contemporary sounds.
In a world of cut and paste downloads it’s great to hear a recording like The Show – a CD that is better when taken in from beginning to end, without interruption. I have not had the pleasure of seeing Peter Siegel perform live, but after hearing his latest, I am most definitely intrigued.
Matt Watroba
Sing Out!
Spring 2005
- Sing Out!
Discography
Solo: Move The Mob and The Show.
Various bands: Beverwyck String Band Cat Out of the Bag, Underbelly: This is Their First Albu but They Are Real Good; Greenfield Dance Band, High Clouds
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Hard Hitting, Hilarious, and Controversial Roots Music
Hip Hop, Old Time, Bluegrass, Blues on Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, and Bodhran
With hip hop, swing, political satire, blues, mandolin, banjo, guitar, percussion, and strong roots underpinnings, Peter Siegel's music can only be identified as Radical Space Age Vaudeville. Hailing from the great state of Vermont, Peter has been known some time around the Northeast music scene as a member of the new old time trio Underbelly and a mainstay of the fiddle tune scene. Peter's legacy as a working musician goes back more than a decade. In New York's Hudson Valley he was known as a member of the Hudson River Sloop Singers, singing original and traditional political and environmental songs. Peter is now a fine solo musician with his own trio and a second solo CD.
Peter Siegel's solo work includes Move The Mob ("Low Flush Toilet" "Rainy Night in Montague") and the Summer 2004 release The Show including the songs "Numb" and "Foolish Questions" which earned a rave review in the Spring, 2005 issue of Sing Out! magazine. The songs Numb and "bugs" earned First Prize in the 2005 The River (WRSI in Western Mass.) singer-songwriter contest. Peter's adventures with the new old-time trio Underbelly include Underbelly's CD sub-titled "This is their first album but they're real good," With his music, Peter Siegel seeks to inspire, enlighten, rile, surprise, and of course entertain unsuspecting audiences.
Peter has shared the stage with such performers as Pete Seeger, Tom Chapin, The Mammals, and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter Paul and Mary, and opened for such performers as Peter Mulvey, Tim O'Brian, and Tony Trishka. Peter Siegel & Friends are available as a duo or trio include Ellen Clegg on percussion, and fiddlers Lissa Shneckenberger, David Kaynor, Ethan Hazard-Watkins, and Alicia Jo Rabins.
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